The way people with autism see and process the body language of others could be preventing them from gauging peoples feelings, according to new research.

With around half a million people in the UK affected by autism, the Durham University study suggests visual processing problems could be contributing to their daytoday difficulties with social interaction.

The research showed that adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) found it difficult to identify emotions, such as anger or happiness, from short video clips of body movements without seeing faces or hearing sound.

Those adults who struggled most with this task also performed poorly when asked to detect the direction in which a group of dots moved coherently on a screen, thought to be due to visual processing problems.

People with autism often have difficulty in attributing mental states to others and this is thought to be one of the main causes of their struggle to know how other people feel. The Durham study, published in the academic journal Neuropsychologia, suggests visual processing problems may also be a contributing factor.

The findings of the study indicate that one of these visual processing problems is a difficulty in perceiving certain sorts of motion, particularly the movement of spatially separate elements spread over a relatively wide area that nevertheless move in the same direction, which is consistent with most previous findings.

The strong link between performances on the tests within the study suggests people with autism have trouble reading body movements because they process some basic visual information differently, according to Dr Anthony Atkinson from Durham Universitys Psychology Department.

The typically developing adults those without autism in the study generally performed well in both tests.

Dr Atkinson, who led the study, says his findings help to further understand the underlying causes of social interaction problems experienced by people with autism.

Dr Atkinson said “The way people move their bodies tells us a lot about their feelings or intentions, and we use this information on a daily basis to communicate with each other. We use others body movements and postures, as well as peoples faces and voices, to gauge their feelings. People with autism are less able to use these cues to make accurate judgements about how others are feeling. Our research attempts to find out why.

“Our findings point to a difficulty in perceiving or attending to motion as a contributor to the problem of gauging peoples emotions. We now need to look further to see how exactly this happens and how this may combine with potential difficulties in attention.”

Thirteen adults with ASD and 16 typically developing adults with the same age and IQ were studied. For the motion coherence test, participants were shown a number of dots on a computer screen with a certain number moving either left or right. The test had various difficulty levels depending on the percentage of dots moving coherently in one direction. This task taps ones ability to see the moving wood as distinct from the individual moving trees, says the author.

For the second test, the study participants were shown two sets of short video clips of peoples body movements and had to identify the emotion expressed by those movements. In one set of video clips the whole body and head but not the face could be seen. The other set contained identical sequences of body movements but all that could be seen was reflective patches attached to the major joints.

Based on gestures and movements acted out in the videos, such as waving fists, stamping feet, and skipping, the study participants were asked to assign one of the basic human emotions to it anger, disgust, sadness, fear or happiness. The individuals with autism were less accurate than the typically developing individuals in judging the emotions in both sets of video clips.

Dr Gina Gómez De La Cuesta, Action Research Leader at the National Autistic Society said “This is an interesting study which supports the suggestion that people with autism may well process visual information differently to their peers.

“We warmly welcome all research which helps us further our understanding of autism, and how best to help and support those with the condition. Autism is a complex and lifelong disability, affecting an estimated half a million people in the UK, and the right support at the right time can make a huge difference to peoples lives.”

Some facts and figures (source The National Autistic Society) Autism is thought to affect around half a million people in the UK today that means 1 out of every 100 people has autism.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. It is a spectrum condition, which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways.

Boys are four times more likely to develop autism than girls.

People with autism often want to make friends but due to their disability find it difficult.

40% of all children with autism wait more than three years for a clear diagnosis. Source
Alex Thomas

Commenting on todays speech by Conservative Party Leader Rt Hon David Cameron MP at the Research Autism Conference in London, Lesa Walton Care & Development Director of specialist Autism care provider Brookdale Care said today

“Brookdale Care is delighted that David Cameron chose to draw special attention to the issues surrounding Autistic Spectrum Conditions today. We hope that Mr Camerons speech represents a landmark day for Autism and its social importance.

“Brookdale Care has long been pressing for what Mr Cameron described as the need to lift “the fog of confusion that hangs over Autism” and to ensure that people who can play an active part in society are not unnecessarily locked out through public misunderstanding of Autism and its associated conditions.

“Brookdale Care is committed to acting as a catalyst for positive change and creating a society in which people with Autism are supported, trusted and respected.

“We agree with Mr Cameron in that further research on Autism needs to be undertaken so that we can better understand the condition, the needs of people with the condition and their families and, most importantly, the services that can assist people. There also needs to be greater understanding of the services that are available and how they can be accessed with as little bureaucracy as possible.

“To do this, all organisations Local Authorities, PCTs, voluntary organisations, Central Government, independent sector care providers and GPs need to work collaboratively and share expertise without delay. Brookdale Care has been working hard to do this and we welcome efforts to further integrate our work with other agencies. Such joint working would particularly assist in improving transition arrangements for people with Autism, as Mr Cameron rightly noted.

“As Mr Cameron stressed, it is of crucial importance that people with Autism and their families are listened to because they are the people that really understand their individual needs, a sentiment that Brookdale Care shares. We realise how important it is to listen to service users and always want to offer people choice and control over every aspect of their lives.

“We hope that Mr Cameron will continue to listen to people with Autism, their families and others seeking to provide support. We are pleased that he reaffirmed support for the Autism Bill and hope that the Conservative Party will continue to place Autism at the top of the policy agenda.”